Fugi – Mary Don’t Take Me On No Bad Trip
Fugi hits the Top 30 in the Motor City!
Listen/Download Fugi – Mary Don’t Take Me On No Bad Trip
Greetings all.
I hope the middle of the week finds you all well.
The tune I bring you today is one that was a long time fave but a more recent acquisition.
I first heard Fugi’s ‘Mary Don’t Take Me On No Bad Trip’ back in the early 90s when Rhino included it on one of their ‘In Yo Face’ comps (the very same one that introduced me to Laura Lee’s ‘Crumbs Off the Table’, still a huge fave).
I had no idea who Fugi was, but the very groovy mixture of funk and psychedelic rock was amazing and I filed it away in the to-be-dug file.
Unfortunately, there it remained for a long-ass time.
It was only a few years ago that a reasonably priced copy popped up on a friend’s set-sale list and I grabbed it.
Fugi (or Fuji as he is sometimes billed) was in fact singer/somgwriter Ellington Jordan, co-composer of the Etta James classic ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’.
His backing band on the track was a Detroit group otherwise known as Black Merda (who also worked previously as the Soul Agents, backing Edwin Starr).
‘Mary Don’t Take Me On No Bad Trip’ was a regional hit in Detroit in the fall of 1969 (check out the survey below where no less an act than the mighty Funkadelic were nestled securely in the Top 10), never really breaking anywhere else, no doubt doomed by the fact that the record was so difficult to pin down stylistically.
The 45 definitely comes swirling out of the same musical zeitgeist as Hendrix and the Band of Gypsys, Funkadelic, Whitfield-era Temps and lesser known groups like Iron Knowledge (‘Showstopper’) and Curly Moore and the Kool Ones (‘Funky Yeah’).
That said, there is no denying that ‘Mary Don’t Take Me On No Bad Trip’ is a decidedly kick-ass affair.
Fugi also recorded an LP’s worth of material for Chess/Cadet that went unreleased at the time, but was later issued by Tuff City/Funky Delicacies.
I hope you dig the cut, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.
Peace
Larry
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Themocracy
Amazing stuff — first heard this 6 or 7 years ago via the late lamented UK internet soul station VIP Radio — I was like, “WTF is *this*?” So many great nuggets to be mined…
Very cool – never heard this one in my area. Love these old charts – what a spectrum of styles. I try to explain 60s radio to my kids and younger friends, but they can’t begin to understand. Many thanks.
Amazing! This is my first time hearing of Fugi. And the background info you provide proves that every song has a story to tell beyond just the music and lyrics.